The novelization of Predator contained several differences compared to the film version, particularly with regards to the Predator creature itself. However, these differences are ignored in the Predator 2 novel, and the book instead follows on from events as they occurred in the first film. The novelization of Predator 2 still differs from the movie, however, with changes including:

The book is set in 1995, two years earlier than the film.[1] However, the events of Predator are still said to have happened 10 years previously, which would be 1985, not 1987 as in the film.[2]

Like the first novel, the book opens with a brief scene where the City Hunter comes to Earth. Initially, it's ship heads for Guatemala (leading the reader to believe the story will take place in the jungle, like the first film) before veering north and flying over Mexico and towards Los Angeles.[1] A significant portion of the book is actually written from the Predator's point of view, shedding light on some of the Yautja's customs, their opinions of humanity, and the City Hunter's inner thoughts.

Tony Pope is a more significant character, and several parts of the novel are written from his perspective, including numerous sections where he sums up his feelings regarding the other reporters gathered at the various crime scenes throughout the movie.

Harrigan carries a .45 longslide pistol as his sidearm, not a Desert Eagle as in the film (although he is said to have a Desert Eagle in the trunk of his car, but he never uses it).[4]

The book makes it clear that the Yautja know of Dutch and what happened in Val Verde, explaining that after the Jungle Hunter's death, its ship automatically returned to the Yaujta homeworld with a record of events recorded through the first Predator's Bio-Mask.[5] The City Hunter has seen these recordings, and they are the reason he has come to Earth to "test" humans.

After El Scorpio has plummeted from the rooftop, the City Hunter actually prepares to kill Harrigan immediately, but is forced to break off when Danny Archuleta and several uniformed officers interrupt.[6]

The novel tells us exactly how Jerry Lambert got his reputation as "The Lone Ranger" — on his first week on the job, he came across four heavily armed men robbing a bank, and instead of calling for backup he single-handedly took them all down.[7] He was subsequently given a commendation by the mayor.

When the Jamaicans assault Ramon Vega's apartment, they gang rape his mistress before stringing Vega up from the ceiling.[8] They then kill Vega by slitting his throat, not cutting out his heart as in the movie — it is mentioned that they intend to remove his heart once he is dead, but the City Hunter attacks before they can carry out the ritual.[9]

Notably, there are no skinned bodies left in Vega's apartment; the City Hunter presumably takes the dead Jamaicans back to his ship to claim their skulls.

The scene where Harrigan meets with Lambert at a bar is expanded, explaining that it is Cantrell's birthday party. She briefly talks shop with Harrigan, telling him one of the bodies from the earlier armory massacre is missing (presumably the one hanging from the roof, which the City Hunter is seen hauling away in the film).[11] Leona's husband, Rick Cantrell, is briefly introduced.

When Archuleta is exploring Vega's apartment alone, he finds a Predator footprint in the blood on the floor.[12] Instead of being "boned like a fish", as in the film, the City Hunter tears out his head and spine; he then climbs a skyscraper with the skull and raises his Combi-Stick to the sky, attracting a bolt of lightning.[13] While this scene is in the movie, it happens much later, and it is Lambert's skull that the Predator is holding at the time.

Harrigan and the other officers attend Archuleta's funeral.[14] Afterwards, Tony pope again hassles Harrigan for an interview, before Captain Pilgrim intervenes and hurls Pope away. This scene was filmed but cut from the film.

King Willie's demise is slightly extended. In the book, he is armed with an Uzi sub-machine gun and a large knife, as opposed to his rapier in the film, and he attempts to gun the Predator down before it kills him.[15]

The City Hunter has only human skulls aboard his ship, unlike the myriad of different species in the movie.[16]

The book explains why the City Hunter begins taunting Harrigan, and why it starts systematically killing his team, telling us that the Predator respects Harrigan greatly as a "warrior" and knows that killing his colleagues will enrage him and make the eventual showdown with him more challenging.[17]

It is revealed that Keyes personally interviewed Dutch following the events in Val Verde, although Dutch is incorrectly identified as a member of the US Delta Force, when in fact he was a mercenary, officially unconnected to the military.[2] At one point, Keyes mentions Dutch's "Olympian physique", likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was Mr. Olympia seven times before becoming an actor. Keyes goes on to explain that Dutch eventually broke out of hospital and disappeared, and has not been heard from since, although he suspects he will be back at some point.[18]

We find out that the Predator specifically follows Cantrell and Lambert onto the Metro, seeking to kill them.[17] The film leaves it unclear whether or not their confrontation was the result of a coincidence. During the fight on the train, the City Hunter uses it's Plasma Caster to slaughter its victims, whereas in the film it almost exclusively uses its bladed weapons.[20]

In Keyes' trailer, Harrigan is shown recordings of an interview with Anna discussing the events of Predator (she appears on a screen only for a split second in the film). Harrigan also sees a separate interview with Vega's mistress, made after she was abducted by Keyes' men.[21]

Harrigan is aware that Keyes is unlikely to let him go after everything he has witnessed, and will probably have him killed to prevent him talking.[22]

During the showdown between Harrigan and the City Hunter in the slaughterhouse, the Predator mimics the voices of both King Willie and Keyes to taunt and terrorize Harrigan.[23] When it throws Harrigan away after he has removed the creature's Bio-Mask, the Mask falls down a drain and disappears, thus explaining why the City Hunter doesn't simply put it back on.[24] The novel also explains that the City Hunter is humiliated by the loss of the Bio-Mask, as well as by the wounds it receives at the hands of Harrigan, and it is this humiliation that drives its pursuit of Harrigan despite the fact that Earth's atmosphere will gradually become poisonous to the creature without the Mask.[25]

There is a humorous reference to Danny Glover's famous role as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series — while following the City Hunter across the broken drainpipe, Harrigan proposes that crazy things like this should be left to Mel Gibson (who played Glover's reckless partner Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon movies).[26]

It is explained that the Yautja can grow a new hand for the City Hunter and surgically graft it on to its severed arm.[26]

Notably, Harrigan does not kill the City Hunter in the book. After mortally wounding it with the Smart-Disc, Greyback and the other Predators arrive before the City Hunter dies. The City Hunter then allows Greyback to behead it.[27]

After killing the City Hunter, Greyback gives Harrigan the flintlock, which in the book has the date 1640 inscribed on it, not 1715 as in the movie.[27]